Okay. To begin with, I will admit I am skeptical over any golf tee that purports added distance. It just seems to me the object used to place a ball on would have extremely little effect on a club swinging at 100 mph, launching the ball at 130 mph.

But I did my best to set that skepticism aside when I tried out the Tornado Tee today at the driving range.

The tee is a unique design, the bottom half being a plastic (which I will get to later) and the top half being a mesh-style material that compresses when you push the tee, with the ball on top of it, into the ground. The instructions say to push the material down first, put the ball on top of it, drive both into the ground, then 'fluff up' the mesh, then place the ball on top of the mesh. Apparently the mesh reduces/eliminates whatever resistance other tees impart.

If you say so.

So I went through the process of teeing a ball. It greatly complicates this process, especially the final step, which is perching the ball on the fluffed-up mesh. The ball falls off easily, so you have to have some patience with it.

So I finally got the ball to stay on the tee, and swung away. I hit about 25 shots with the tee, each time having to go through the tedious teeing process. Was there added distance? I honestly don't know. Good hits went far, bad hits didn't. Did the good ones go farther than a typical tee would have provided? Hell if I know. I mean, seriously, I could not tell - it's not like I could tell if there was 5 or 10 more yards added due to the tee. I will just say that in theory there should be less resistance of the mesh versus the typical wooden tee. But I'm not an engineer.

I mentioned the plastic bottom half. It's plastic. Translation: It breaks easily. I had a 6-tee package & went through 4 of them in hitting 25 drives. They don't last.

So let's add this up. They complicate the teeing process, can cause frustration in doing something that is mostly automatic for golfers, and the added hassle doesn't necessarily translate to added distance.

I would say to save your money & use it to grab a handful of wooden tees from the barrel at your local golf shop.

The Tornado Tee is one of the numerous new tees on the market claiming to improve your performance in some way or another. Their claim is that the reduced spin will give you an extra 10-15 yards in distance AND reduce your side-to-side dispersion by 5-10 yards.

I have always been skeptical of these type of grand claims in any piece of golf equipment, and especially in tees - partially because I've yet to see a Tour player use anything besides a normal wooden tee. Regardless, I wanted to see for myself so I took these tees out to the range and the course this weekend to give them a try.

The tees sort of resemble a miniature badminton shuttlecock, with the top part being made out of a nylon mesh type material. There is a thicker plastic part at the connection point between the mesh and the nail portion, allowing you to tee the ball at the exact same height every time. [Note: You can also adjust the height of the mesh if need be, but I did not try it] The other plus, for me, is the durability. They came in a pack of four, and after a day on the range and one full round of golf, I still have four.

The biggest problem I have with these is that you cannot put the tee and ball down together in one shot. The tee has no structure to it, so you have to hold it by the base and put it in the ground, then put the ball on top of it.

As far as the performance claims, I didn't notice any difference one way or the other between these and the standard white wooden tees I normally use. So, since I'm not gaining any distance or accuracy, the extra work required to use them is not worth it for me.

However, I will keep these, as their durability will provide very useful on the driving range.

(Just wanted to add that I tried this out at the range today and it is perfect. The tee stayed in place the entire time I was using it. When pushed down, it was perfect for 3 woods, and after each shot, all I had to do was push the mesh back down. The tee itself stayed in place and lasted the entire session)

Overall, the Tornado Tee is a good product. It claims to add more distance to your tee shots by reducing spin, and while I'm not ready to say that it does, I don't think that it takes any distance away.

One thing that I really liked about the tee is that it gives a consistent height every time. For me, sticking it in the ground all the way with the mesh extended is perfect for my driver. You can also collapse the mesh down if you are going to be using a fairway wood or hybrid off the tee. Also, since the part in the ground is plastic and the part you are hitting off is mesh and just moves with the stroke, the tee doesn't fly out of the ground where you can't find it. That, coupled with the fact that these things seem to be nearly indestructible means that this might be the last tee you buy.

On the negative side, it's a bit tougher to put into the ground than a normal tee, but not much... you can still put the ball on the end and press it into the ground, but you have to let the mesh collapse down first and then once the tee is in the ground, pull the mesh back up. Not really a huge deal. The only other negative I could see is for people who put there tees to use as divot tools. These really won't work for that (and really, that's not such a bad thing as a tee ISN'T a good divot tool anyways). The other thing is that they are maybe a bit goofy looking... they kind of stand out, especially if you have one with colored mesh, but it's not a big deal. Also, even in the collapsed set up, the ball is too high off the ground to hit an iron (at least for me).

There are other similar tees to this, but I honestly feel these do the best of them. Others, like the Brush Tee or the 4 More Yards Tee don't really allow for height adjustment, but like I said earlier, these do. If you are looking for a tee that will last, gives a consistent height, and possibly a few more yards than this is the tee for you.

The Tornado Tee touts more distance off the tee by reducing resistance caused by traditional tees. Reduced resistance is achieved by using a flexible mesh like material, which bends as the club head passes through impact. The result is more energy transfer to the ball. An added benefit of this flexibility is also increased durability.

I have used three types of tees during my rounds, a 2 ¾” traditional wood tee or zero friction plastic tee with the driver and 1 ¼” wood tee for irons and fairway woods. The Tornado Tee can replace all of them as the flexible mesh can be used at full height or collapsed down (see pictures).

However, this is a negative for myself. At full height the Tornado Tee is 3 ¼” and collapsed down is 2”. The full height dimension was more of an issue than the collapsed dimension, mainly due to the method suggested to place the tee in the ground. One must first collapse the mesh portion, press the tee

in ground, then extend the mesh back up to reach full height. While this is certainly a minor critique, if you are like me, setting your tee height is almost a subconscious act. I have placed my tee in a particular manner and at a decided height so many times it is second nature. Placing the Tornado Tee

does not need much more effort, but learning how to place the collapsed tee to achieve the desired full height will take some learning.

Speaking to durability, I break 2-3 wood tees on average per round and have yet to have any issues with the Tornado Tee. I received 5 tees in the package and have only used 1 without much indication of wear. Wood tees are fairly cheap, but over time the Tornado Tee will eventually pay for itself.

Lastly, added distance. Unfortunately, I do not have access to trackman or flightscope to definitively say I have added distance by simply using the Tornado Tee. In the short time I have used the Tornado Tee, it is plausible to say that I have added some distance, it has not been a drastic increase ( ~5 yds). Again this is purely an estimation, but I can say I have not lost distance.

The Tornado Tee is definitely durable and with more use, more charting, may yield solid proof of added distance. My feeling of the tee height/placement technique is certainly a personal opinion and may be less of an issue for others. Overall, my experience has been mostly positive, but this will be one area where I will stick with the old school tech.

"Tornado Tee is a unique, scientifically designed, high performance golf tee. The Tornado Tee looks like a conventional tee and that is where the similarity ends! The patent pending design of the Tornado Tee provides maximum energy transfer from the club head to the ball. The performance improvements provided by the Tornado Tee can be recognized by all players."